Theme: Communicating the science

The Madhouse Effect: How Denial Is Threatening Our Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and ​ ​ Driving Us Crazy by Michael Mann and Tom Toles, 2016 ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ portrays the intellectual pretzels denialists twist logic to explain away evidence that human activity … has changed Earth's climate. Toles's cartoons collapse counter-scientific strategies into their biased components, helping us see how to best strike at these fallacies. Mann's expert skills at science communication restore sanity to a debate against widely acknowledged scientific consensus. The synergy of these two crusaders enlivens the gloom and doom of many climate-themed books―and may even convert die-hard doubters to the side of sound science.

If I Understood You Would I Have This Look on My Face?: My Adventures in the Art and Science of Relating and Communicating by Alan Alda, 2017 ​ ​ ​ A witty, informative chronicle of how Alda found inspiration in everything from cutting-edge science to classic acting methods to communicate complex ideas in ways a wide audience could understand. Alda shows how communication can be improved through learning to relate to the other person: listening with our eyes, looking for clues in another's face, using the power of story, avoiding jargon, and reading another person so well that you become "in sync" with them-especially when you're talking about the hard stuff.

I'm Not a Scientist: How Politicians Mistake, Misrepresent, and Utterly Mangle Science by Dave Levitan, ​ ​ ​ ​ 2017 An eye-opening tour of the political tricks that subvert scientific progress. The Butter-Up and Undercut. The Certain Uncertainty. The Straight-Up Fabrication. Dave Levitan dismantles all of these deceptive arguments, and many more, in this probing and hilarious examination of the ways our elected officials attack scientific findings that conflict with their political agendas. The next time you hear a politician say, "Well, I’m not a scientist, but ," you’ll be ready. …

Beyond Debate: Answers to 50 Misconceptions on Climate Change by Dr. Shahir Masri, 2018 ​ In Beyond Debate, Shahir Masri clears up 50 of the most common misconceptions surrounding climate change. He simplifies the science and resolves the confusion so that everyone may better understand the issue. Now is not the time for silence, but rather a time for conversation and collective action to address emissions and begin to solve the . Action begins with understanding, which Beyond Debate so eloquently offers. Masri conveys a sense of urgency while describing opportunities for hope.

Complicating the Narratives: Amanda Ripley explains solutions journalism by Sara Wanous, 2019 ​ Amanda Ripley, a journalist with more than 20 years of experience writing for publications including Time Magazine and The Atlantic joined CCL’s January 2019 meeting to explore just that. Amanda ​ ​ ​ explains how “complicating the narrative” through the practice of solutions journalism can help us have more productive, satisfying conversations about polarizing topics. Summary at: https://citizensclimatelobby.org/amanda-ripley-explains-solutions-journalism/ . Original article: ​ https://thewholestory.solutionsjournalism.org/complicating-the-narratives-b91ea06ddf63

Fifteen Steps to Create Effective Climate Communications from Nat’l League of Cities & ecoAmerica, ​ 2017 This 8-page guide outlines the specific flow for creating and delivering successful climate change communications that resonate with your target audience. Process is as important as content. Even if you have all the facts down cold, people won’t necessarily listen, understand, remember, and act. You need to understand and relate to them to be heard. The guide presents a simple but comprehensive process to create effective climate communications. https://ecoamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/5_ea_15_steps.pdf

Three Steps to Better Climate Conversations Article by Katharine Hayhoe, May 2018 ​ According to Dr. Hayhoe, one of the most powerful things individuals can do to fight climate change is simple--talk to people about climate change. Most Americans rarely discuss global warming and a majority say they hear little about it in the media. She challenges all of us to have more climate conversations and provides a 3-part formula for relevant, constructive, and hopeful climate talk. https://www.sightline.org/2018/07/05/three-steps-to-better-climate-conversations/

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World--and Why Things Are Better Than You Think by ​ Hans Rosling, 2018 “A statistician, Rosling uses the tools of his trade (namely, graphs, charts and lots of questionnaires) to ​ argue we're doing too much feeling and not enough thinking when it comes to assessing the world His goal is to change the way we see the world." ―Business Insider … ​ “...a hopeful book about the potential for human progress when we work off facts rather than our inherent biases." --Barack Obama ​

The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming by David Wallace-Wells 2019. ​ This travelogue of our near future brings into stark relief the troubles that await--food shortages, refugee emergencies--crises that will reshape the globe. The world will be remade profoundly, ​ ​ transforming politics, culture, relationships to technology to history. It will distort nearly every aspect of human life. This book is both a meditation on the devastation we have brought upon ourselves and an impassioned call to action. Just as the world was brought to the brink of catastrophe in the span of a lifetime, the responsibility to avoid it now belongs to a single ​ ​ generation. There is value in panic to push action.